A Fantasy read on the Buffalo Bills

From a Fantasy perspective, Lee Evans had his worst season last year. He did not set career lows for receptions, yards, catches for 20-plus yards or a career high for fumbles.

The ultimate stat, however, was a career-worst. Evans had just five touchdowns in 2007.

The good news is that it doesn't appear to be entirely his fault. While Evans would seemingly vanish for weeks at a time (he totaled five catches for 29 yards over his first three games), the reality is that Buffalo's passing game tanked. Bills quarterbacks totaled two games with at least 250 passing yards and the team finished the year ranked 30th in passing (164.6 pass yards per game).

Suffice to say, the organization knew what they had to address this offseason.

Buffalo named Turk Schonert the new offensive coordinator, and the former NFL quarterback will give some life to this listless pass attack. Trent Edwards has the starting job for now, and even though Evans said previously that he prefers J.P. Losman (now Edwards' backup) throwing his deep routes, Edwards is the smarter, more instinctive passer.

Lee Evans will be as good as his quarterback performs this season. (Getty Images)

The other issue Evans has dealt with since he came to Buffalo is a lack of a receiving teammate to take defensive pressure off of him. Running back Marshawn Lynch helped a little bit last season, but the Bills needed a receiver capable of getting their opponents' attention on a play-to-play basis. They got it in rookie WR James Hardy, a 6-foot-6 playmaker with incredible jumping ability and solid hands and speed. It might take a few games, but Hardy should quickly develop into a legit receiving threat, taking the routine double- and triple-teams off of Evans.

Positives: While Evans is small compared to other big-name receivers (he's 5-foot-10 and 197 pounds), he can't be called injury prone. He hasn't missed a game in his career. Evans did have offseason shoulder surgery but should be fine for the start of training camp. And while Evans may prefer Losman to Edwards, the two combined for three touchdowns over the team's last four games in 2007. Speaking from a Fantasy point of view, Evans is the must-own late-season Fantasy receiver as 17 of his career 29 touchdowns have come in December, including those three from Edwards last season.

Negatives: Regardless of what Schonert does as Buffalo's play caller, the Bills will be a run-first team. Lynch is too strong of a runner and the O-line is too good of a unit. That will limit the upside for Evans' receptions total, which is already low (55 catches or less in three of four seasons). Evans makes up for it with a high yards-per-catch total, but his touchdown production might suffer with Hardy now in the fold. Hardy is considered a tremendous red-zone jump-ball threat, which means Evans' number won't be called too often when the Bills are inside the 20. Previously, that wouldn't mean so much because most of Evans' touchdowns came from outside the red zone, but three of his five scores last year were inside the 10. Those touchdowns might head Hardy's way now.

Outlook: What might be the most important piece of information about Evans' 2008 season is the fact that he's entering a contract year. Usually when a player is running head-on into an opportunity to sign a lucrative contract, he plays well. Evans shouldn't be an exception, but there is a chance that Buffalo signs him to an extension before the season, which would remove some of his motivation to play well. Ultimately, Evans is the very definition of a top-end No. 3 Fantasy WR -- he's not expected to dominate statistically, but he should be considered reliable for over 50 catches, 850 yards and at least six scores. Round 6 is when you can expect Evans to jump off draft boards this summer -- anything higher is a reach and anything lower is a steal.

Position battle: No. 2 wide receiver

Josh Reed Pro: For our purposes, there really aren't any. Reed hasn't scored more than two TDs in any NFL campaign and has yet to total over 588 yards in a season. If anything, Reed plays because he's a good route runner and an effective blocker, which is useless for our purposes. Con: See pro.

James Hardy Pro: The 6-foot-6 rookie from Indiana might not have to be the team's No. 2 receiver to make a Fantasy impact -- the club might opt to use him as a red-zone option to jump high and come down with touchdowns. Additionally, Hardy has the speed and hands to be reliable over the middle and as a move-the-chains option. Con: He's a rookie, and rookie WRs tend to take longer to adapt to the NFL game. That might be part of the reason why he has a limited role in 2008. He's also part of a run-first offense that will slow down any shot of him getting even 40 receptions in his first season. Prediction: We'd be floored if Hardy didn't out-produce Reed in 2008, especially in the end zone. Even if Reed starts, Hardy should be the more prominent Fantasy option.